Well, I couldn’t really blame ‘em for thinking what they did. I’d’ve probably thought the same thing in their place, what with Myra bawling and her clothes being messed up, and me not being in very good shape neither. They figured I’d raped her, and when a fella rapes a gal in this part of the country, he hardly ever gets to the jail. Or, if he does, he don’t stay there very long.

I figure sometimes that maybe that’s why we don’t make as much progress as other parts of the nation. People lose so much time from their jobs in lynching other people, and they spend so much money on rope and kerosene and getting likkered-up in advance and other essentials, that there ain’t an awful lot of money or man-hours left for practical purposes.

Howsoever, it sure looked like I was about to be the guest of honor at a necktie party, when Myra decided to speak up.

“I’m s-sure Mr. Corey didn’t mean to do wrong,” she said, looking around teary.eyed. “He’s really a fine man, I’m sure, and he didn’t mean to do wrong, did you, Mr. Corey?”

“No, ma’am, I sure didn’t,” I said, running my finger around my collar. “I positively didn’t mean nothing like that, and that’s a fact.”

“Then why did you do it?” a man frowned at me. “This is hardly something that a person does accidentally.”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” I said. “I wouldn’t say you’re wrong, but I ain’t sure you’re right either.”

He started to take a swing at me. I ducked but another fella caught me by the shoulder and flung me toward the door. I went down on my knees and someone kicked me, and some others jerked me to my feet again, not being very gentle about it, and then everyone was hustling me out of the room and trying to sock me at the same time.

Myra said, “Wait! Please wait! It’s all a mistake.”

They slowed down a little, and someone said, “Now, don’t upset yourself, Miss Myra. This skunk isn’t worth it.”

“But he wants to marry me! We were going to get married tonight!”

Everyone was pretty surprised, including me, and they were puzzled too, which I wasn’t. It looked like I’d sold my pottage for a mess of afterbirth, as the saying is. I’d been chasing females all my life, not paying no mind to the fact that whatever’s got tail at one end has teeth at the other, and now I was getting chomped on.

“That right, Corey?” A fella nudged me. “You and Miss Myra getting married?”

“Well,” I said.-“Well, it’s like this, or at least that’s the way I see it. I mean, uh—”

“Oh, he’s so bashful!” Myra laughed. “And he gets excited so easily! That’s what happened when—” She looked down at herself, blushing and brushing at her mussed-up clothes. “He got so excited when I said yes, I’d marry him, that—that—”